🎙️ Episode 1 — Fluoride Wasn’t the Crisis. The System Was.
The Systems Lens Podcast with Hardeep Anand

Description:

On May 6, 2025, Miami-Dade County voted to remove fluoride from its water supply. The same day, Florida’s governor announced a statewide ban.

But this episode isn’t about fluoride.
It’s about a system that broke under pressure, revealing the truth most headlines missed:

This kickoff episode of The Systems Lens Podcast unpacks the fluoride controversy not as a public health debate—but as a case study in regulatory misalignment, broken data pipelines, and siloed authority.

You’ll learn:

• Why utilities were caught in the crossfire
• How five agencies failed to coordinate
• What we should have built in 1958—but didn’t
• Why every future crisis (AI, carbon, trust) will follow this same fault line
• What a true “governance interface” could look like

This isn’t about chemicals. It’s about systems.
And if we can’t manage disagreement over fluoride, how will we govern what’s coming next?

Topics Covered:

• Regulatory fragmentation (EPA, FDA, CDC, state, local)
• Public health vs political authority
• Water infrastructure as a frontline system
• Lack of integrated data for decision-making
• Systems-thinking frameworks: shared risk, co-governance, systemic ownership
• Building a governance operating system for the future

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For reformers, engineers, public sector leaders, and anyone building smarter systems in water, health, infrastructure, or AI.

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Newsletter: The Systems Lens on Beehiv

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